High School Drama
by BlackEbony17
Summary: Ben 10 but from what I see, a better version where they are all in high school, contains Gwevin, Benlie, Manlen and Darkcaster angst
1. Back Story

High School Drama

A little back story: Setting the Scene

Six years before these events had conspired; a 10 year old Benjamin Tennyson was given a watch, a witch like no other, seeming him the hero of hero's. And he was, as much as a 10 year old boy could be. He loved it, it made him different. Yet two years later he still gave it all up, traded in the supernatural for normalcy, he was no longer Ben 10, saviour of the galaxy. Just Ben Tennyson. High school student, a boy with only a tale to tell of his own heroism, and his single choice to leave it all behind. But the reason behind his decision is another story…

At sixteen, he was no different from anybody else; he got up in time for the school bus, worked at an average level, completed the homework assignments once he got home, and played soccer for the school team on weekends. No exceptional characteristics he could show. He was Just Ben Tennyson. Former hero.

Then there was his cousin, Gwen. Closer than they used to be, and a lot nicer towards one another, but she excelled in school, earning herself straight A's in all her classes. Participating in the schools gymnastics club, Tae Kwon Do classes, track team, book club, science club, Martial arts, horseback riding, softball, skiing, cross country and a whole bunch of AP classes. Personally, Ben didn't know how she did it all, and still maintain her A+ average. To him it made no sense, who could barely keep his own grade average from dipping below a C.


	2. Arrival

High School Drama

Part 1 – Arrival

It was a Wednesday morning, the second week of the new school year, and Ben Tennyson sat in his in the passenger seat of his dad's old station wagon, his school back resting on the taut carpet beneath his feet. He had no interest in going to school that morning, but it was compulsory and would no doubt earn him an earful of complaints from his mother if he skipped, and that wasn't worth the risk. The sun streamed through the windscreen, momentarily blinding him until it passed behind one of houses at the road side. He said nothing, there wasn't anything to say, plus, he was always a little irritable in the mornings. It was too early to do anything, it would just be easier for everyone if the day started later, at around 12 pm, for example. His dad stopped the car and Ben looked up, out of the window. They had parked outside of a two storey house, the front yard lined with a green bush and dozens of flowers, a think cobbled path wound from the sidewalk to the doorstep. The bright red door swung open and out stepped a girl, her skin was even, blemish-free and sun kissed, her hair, a vibrant shade of red, cascading in waves down her back to her waist was tucked behind one ear keeping it away from her face and dazzling emerald green eyes. She wore a pair of high waisted shorts with an oversized blue shirt that flopped off of one shoulder revealing the pink strap of her bra and a pair of flat silver sandals that she'd been talking about for the past week. Clearly she'd managed to gather up enough money to pay for them. She clutched a stack of books to her breast, shifting them to one arm as she shut the door behind her and called her goodbyes to her dad.

She clambered into the back seat of the station wagon, step her books down on the seat next to her and up on her seatbelt.

"Morning Uncle Carl" she sung happily, as the car pulled away from the side walk and continued down the street.

"Morning Gwen" Ben's dad replied "How's my favourite niece doing today?"

"I'm good, got a big math test third period though."

"Ah, well I'd say good luck, but I doubt you need it"

Gwen laughed "Thanks Uncle Carl. Hey Ben"

Ben grunted something that was unintelligible even to him.

"How's Physics coming along?"

"Terrible." He answered briefly "I can't do it."

"Now son" his dad said "If you think in the negative…"

"I know, I know. That's all my life will be."

"Exactly. I'm sure you're doing just fine."

That was easy for him to say. He hadn't seen Ben's epic failure in that last test: an F. he physically could not do it. He knew all he should about the topic, but the various symbols accompanying the calculations confused him. Over the remains of the journey he occasionally contributed to the conversation between his dad and cousin.

The car rolled to a stop outside of Bellwood High School and Ben, shoulder in his bag, clambered out, Gwen did the same.

"Later" he said over his shoulder as he made his way over to his group of friends, tall and beefy Manny; track obsessed Pierce and Cooper, who had recently gone through a growth spurt.

Gwen watched her cousin go, rolling her eyes at his attitude towards the early hour, she adjusted the strap of her favourite purple purse on her shoulder then made her way through the parking lot around crowds of students, to the small cluster of girls stood on the green grass outside the school doors. Her best friends. Quiet, Julie Yamamoto, a petite girl of Asian descent, with short dark hair and soft hazel eyes, she wore a pair of pail blue cropped jeans, a pink plaid shirt, tied at the ribs with a white top underneath. On her feet were a pair of flat white sneakers. Loud, quirky Helen Wheels a pale, amber eyed girl with short black hair that fanned out, around her head link a lion's mane, and a bubbly energetic personality. She wore a short denim mini skirt with a pair of flat tan boots and a white t-shirt with green sleeves and the number 43 printed across the chest. Lastly there was Eunice Galvan, the bouncy blond, wearing a navy blue skirt, a striped white and blue top with a red neck line and a pair of red flat shoes.

Gwen walked over to then and instantly received a three person hug. She laughed loudly, and hugged all three back.

"Heeey" she said

"Heeey" said Julie

"Heeey" said Helen

"Heeey" Eunice added

"Have a good night?" Gwen asked having never done so the days previous

"Meh" Helen replied, "it was alright, Pierce and I got a job at out uncles building firm. We spent the entire night filing paper work. Urgh. Sooo boring."

"Mine was pretty good." Said Eunice "My Uncle Asmuth came to visit, he doesn't come that often. It was good to see him again."

"I spent most of the time at the mall" Julie said simply "What about you? At the beach?"

"Oh yeah" Gwen confirmed "working on my tan" she held out her bare arms for her friends to observe the healthy brown tint to her skin

"How do you get so brown?" Helen whined "every time I try I just get sunburnt."

Gwen shrugged, as the conversation developed further into Helen's sunburn issue. Then over Julie's shoulder she caught a flash black, she frowned and focused on it, what or rather who, shocked her ridged. A tall, muscled, hulking teenage boy walked across the grassy lawn towards the school, he carried no books or anything remotely related to school and a set of key jingling loosely from the pocket of his jeans. Gwen knew this boy. She knew him, seen him on various occasions, all of which never ended well. He raised a hand and brushed his shaggy, overgrown raven black hair out of his face. He seemed to sense her eyes on him, turning his head and meeting her gaze head on with those dark eyes. She gasped and dropped her eyes quickly; she peeked up at him under her eyelashes. He had stopped walking, standing among the crowd of bustling students, staring directly at her, an expression of confusion on his face. Did he recognise her? She hoped, hoped with everything she had that he didn't. What would happen if he did? Would he attack there and then? Or would he but two and two together and go straight for Ben? She'd have to stop him before that happened. It was a good thing she was, not only a karate black belt, but gifted in ways no-one else was. But, so was he…

"Gwen!" someone said tearing her thoughts away from the raven haired boy.

"Huh?" she said, turning to face her friends

"Are you alright?" Helen asked "You were just staring off into space."

"Urh…" Gwen swallowed hard "I-I'm fine" she stammered, returning her eyes to were the boy stood, but he was gone. "Hey, I'll see you guys in class, I've got to go do something, OK?"

"OK" Julie said unsurely.

Gwen turned and ran. Weaving through bands of students across the parking lot until she saw the back if her cousin's brown haired head and green jacket. He was surrounded by his friends, Manny Armstrong, a tall, beefy boy with sandy blond hair and dark brown eyes, wearing a tank top and jeans. Pierce Wheels, Helen's adoptive brother, tanned and blue eyes with long black hair, he made up for calm where his sister did not. And Cooper Daniels, the tall, greasy blond who's recent growth spurt had his levelling Manny's height. Cooper's odd, leering attitude towards Gwen had always made her feel uneasy; it was the same with the odd look he gave her when he saw her approaching.

Gwen clamped her hand down on Ben's shoulder "I need to talk to you" she said quietly

"Can't it wait?"

"It can't"

Ben turned to face her, studying her face he nodded, no doubt seeing the fear that lingered there. "One sec guys" he told his friends, following his cousin to a more excluded position in the parking lot. "What?" he asked when they were sure no one was listening in.

"You'll never guess who I just saw" Gwen said

"Who?"

"Kevin."

Ben's eyes widened "Levin? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Was it really him?"

"I hope not. Ben, how can he be here?"

"He can't!" Ben said unconfidently "He's still in prison. He can't even be in the country, let alone in Bellwood."

"I know, but I saw him!"

"You can't have. You must have saw somebody who _looks_ like him. Yeah, that's it. You didn't hear his name did you?"

She shook her head

"See, it wasn't him. He's still in prison. It wasn't him." he seemed to be talking more to himself that to Gwen "It wasn't him."

"Yeah" Gwen said, it seemed he needed more comfort that her, the boy was, after all, more likely to come after him. "I must have just been seeing things, over active imagination and all. Sorry. "

Ben nodded "Urh, not a problem, thanks for coming to warn me though."

She smiled weakly and the bell rang. She rushed off to class; first period was AP Chemistry, her favourite. She stored her books in her locker and retrieved her lab coat, before heading to the labs, where she sat and listened intently to Dr Baker until the bell rang signalling the move to second period: Art Class. She doodled absently on her paper paying no particular attention at what she was drawing, to the end of the class, she looked down at her paper and jumped, a pair of dark eyes stared up at her, eyes that she knew belonged to the hulking boy, who could not be Kevin Levin, from this morning. She stuffed the paper into her bag and rushed off to third period. Advanced Math Class.

Gwen was one of the first people there, she walked into the class room, selected a seat near the front and settled herself, retrieving the books she'd been given days before and setting them on her desk. She rested her chin on her hand as stared at the front, waiting patiently for the rest of the class to congregate so the lesson could start.

"Now" said the teacher, Mr Bates, said once all his students had arrived "I think we're supposed to have a new student today, but he doesn't seem to be here" he scanned the classroom filled with teenagers, most were the standard four eyed, metal mouthed, comic book obsessed nerds, with the exception of one or two normal people, Gwen being one of them. Or so she classed herself. The door banged open "Ah, I guess you are my new student" said Mr Bates.

"Sorry I'm late." The cool voice said in a tone that made it clear they weren't.

"It's alright. Considering it's your first day, I imagine it's hard to navigate around the school"

"No, it's pretty easy actually"

Mr Bates stopped for a moment, clearly unsure how to proceed "Right" he sighed eventually "Come on in then"

The new student stepped across the threshold and Gwen gasped. It was the boy, the one from this morning, the one who could _not_ be Kevin Levin. He was here! It couldn't be him. It couldn't be him. It wasn't him!

"Now, what's your name?"

"Kevin" said the boy, jerking his head to move his raven shaggy raven black hair out of his face, for an instant, his eyes met Gwen's then flickered away quickly "Kevin Levin"

"No" Gwen said no louder than a whisper. Was it possible that there were two of them? Two people who looked the same and had the same name? She knew it wasn't. So what was he doing here? And what would he do if he figured out who she was?

"Right, Mr Levin." Mr Bates scanned the room once more, this time his eyes settled on the desk to Gwen's right. The only empty space in the room. Please, no! Gwen thought, please! "Take a seat" he nodded towards the spare desk. The boy, who was Kevin Levin, no doubt, walked over to the desk, paying no attention to the classroom full of students watching him, and slumped into the chair. "Can you catch him up to speed?" he asked Gwen

Gwen hesitated, her mouth opened then closed, she wanted to say no, to deny any contact with this hulking teenage boy. Instead she nodded timidly.

"Good." He passed the raven haired boy a thick text book then set questions from it, during that time Gwen found herself unable to focus on her work, she scribbled down the answers paying no real attention to them, her mind remained to numb with fear towards the boy sitting next to her.

"Hey" a deep voice said, she looked up from her work and realised it was Kevin Levin who was talking to her.

"Yeah" she asked

"Do you have a pencil?"

"Oh, yeah" she bent to retrieve it from her bag and passed it to him with shaking hands, he grunted his thanks as he took it from her then his eyes flickered up and met her own yet again. He stopped and frowned.

"Do I know you?" he asked

"No" Gwen said breathlessly

"Huh. You sure?"

"Yes"

"OK, then what's your name?"

"Gwen."

"So, you any good at Math?"

"Yes"

"Try adding up these numbers. You, Me, dinner and a movie?"

Gwen scoffed; he really had the nerve to flirt with her? After all he'd done? What did he think this was?

"Alright, alright" he said defensively, catching her disgusted expression and raising his hands in surrender "How 'bout you just tell me the stuff we've been doing, then."

She sighed, knowing she would have to "Fine. We only started on last week, so we haven't got that far. We're in the middle of Pythagoras Theorem"

"K, so…"

"It's in the book."

"Yeah, I'm not big on reading, so talk to me."

With much reluctance, she explained all they had covered in he lessons previous, and to her surprise he understood, nodding and offering answers when she showed his examples, even occasionally pointing out flaws in her method, which greatly irritated her. By the end of the period, she had told his everything and completed her work so ran out of the room the first chance she got. Straight to Ben.

"It's him." She heaved, pulling her cousin aside "It's really him."

"How do you know?" Ben hissed

"He's in my Advanced Math Class. Introduced himself. It's him, Ben"

"He's in _your_ Math class? Really" he asked with raised eyebrows

"Yes." Gwen said irritably "But that's not the point. Ben, Kevin Levin is back."

Ben sighed "I don't know what to do. He's supposed to be in prison. How did he even get out?"

She shrugged and shook her head. Eventually they parted ways, though neither relaxed. For Gwen the day got worse. After lunch, she had English. Though, that too was ruined by the unwelcome Kevin Levin, he was late again, so forced to take a seat close to Gwen, in the chair in front of her to be exact.

"Seems we're draw together" Kevin Levin said upon sitting down at the desk

"No. I'm just unlucky" Gwen corrected him with a spiteful stare, though still in shock from his reappearance, she had managed to regain a little of her strong personality.

"That hurts" he said with a wink "I will have you know that I'm feeling very lucky"

Gwen turned away and refused to look at him for the remainder of the period. That was until the teacher, Mrs Stokes, hailed her down to answer a question. "Miss Tennyson" she called, in his seat, Gwen heard Kevin Levin choke, he must have been chewing gum, his chair creaked as he sat up straight.

Once the period ended, Gwen gathered her books and made to leave, but a strong hand clamped down on her arm, she turned, know who it would be and stared up into his hard, dark eyes.

"I do know you." Kevin Levin said "You're _his_ cousin."

"So what if I am. What are you going to do? There are plenty of witnesses around"

"Why didn't you say?"

"What are you doing here?" she avoided his question, shaking his hand off "You're supposed to be in prison."

He shrugged on shoulder "I got out." He said simply "and just so you know. I'm not gonna kill him, I've got more important stuff to do with my time." She pushed past her and strode out of the room. Gwen believed nothing he said; he was a master of deceit, and prone to violent responses. No matter what he said, something would turn out badly. She sat through final periods in a daze, then denied walking home with Ben, too shaken to speak or even think clearly. He knew. He knew. He knew…

Kevin Levin clambered into his beloved car, built completely by himself, and incredibly fast. He pinched the bridge of his crooked nose, a result of the many fights he's gotten in over the years. So they were here. Here! Why, of all the schools in in Bellwood, did he have to go to the same school as them? Why when he was specifically trying to forget, why did he have run into those people who would make it so hard? And then, to make it worse, he had two, two periods with the girl, Gwen, Advanced Math and English, he even sat close to her in both of them. It only brought back the flood of blurred memories about that time, six years pervious.

He shouldn't have even been in her year, he should be in the year above, being seventeen and all, but since he had a lack of schooling between the age of eleven and thirteen, he had to be held down a few grades, it was only really his deep understanding of number that had managed to get him in to Sophomore year.

Still, that red head was pretty cute, if he didn't hate her, he'd definitely pick her up. But no, that had been his original goal, until he found out who she was. Now… now he wasn't sure. Though he did know he didn't want to hurt them, her or her cousin. He was past that, and besides, how could he break it to his mom? His mom who was already so fragile, so delicate. She'd be so disappointed in he returned to that mind set once more, no he wouldn't hurt them, but that didn't mean he had to like them. He inserted the keys into the car, pulled out of the school parking lot and headed him, his mind never leaving the thoughts of the Tennyson's.

Ben knew not how to react; the news of Levin returning had shaken him more than he'd initially let on. Levin, back! And he was defenceless, no watch, only he skills at soccer, which, unless he was challenged to a match, would not do him much good. What did Levin even want anyway? Revenge? Maybe Ben could corner him and force it out of him… but then again, Levin did look at hell of a lot stronger that him that would probably be more of a death wish, and he definitely was not ready to die. But if he enlisted Manny, Pierce and Cooper's help… no, there was not need to get them involved with this; this was between him and Levin. And besides, Levin was not entirely sane, he'd probably seriously hurt them anyway.

So what could he do? How would he protect everyone, just like he did in the old days, only this time, he had a feeling that he would not have as much help, or even an advantage of some kind. Still, he knew that no matter what, he would protect Bellwood, his home town from anybody and anything that threatened it!


End file.
